Hassa Family Archive

collection Hassa Family Archive
authors Zbigniew Hassa
starring Irena Hassa; Zbigniew Hassa; Joanna Hassa; Katarzyna Hassa; Zenona Pruszkowska
length 05'16
country Poland
locations Warsaw, Poland 
year 1988–1989
format 8 mm
color color
signature PAFD 0000 024
description

The author of the film is Zbigniew Hassa. Since the age of 14, he had worked as an electrician in Warsaw Trams (then MZK). When his daughters, Joanna and Katarzyna, were born, he decided to start filming events from the life of the family. 

An account of the visit to the Bródno Cemetery on All Saints’ Day. Irena Hassa with her daughters (Joasia and Kasia) and her mother (Zenona) stand in front of the grave of the Rutkowski family, where there are flowers and burning candles. Outdoor shots from a walk at the Old Town in Warsaw. Kasia, crouching, tries to catch a pigeon. Irena, who stands next to her, looks into the bag. Behind them, we can see a stand with portraits. The panorama of the Old Town Square. We can see scaffolding on tenement houses. Against the walls of buildings, there are numerous racks with pictures. Irena and Kasia go towards the Barbican. They go up the stairs to the defensive walls. Zbigniew and Irena walk down a street of the Old Town (Kasia films them). A park in Powsin. Outdoor shots in winter. Family members successively descend on a sledges, some descents end in a fall. Irena walks towards the camera, pulling the sledge on which the girls sit. An account of the visit of family friends, Daisy and Raimund (pilot), who are Swiss. The interior of the apartment in Wilanów. Daisy sits on the sofa. Raimund and Daisy make a toast with small glasses. Next to them, on the sofa, there is Kasia with a small dog, Funia, in her arms and Joasia. (Daisy and Raimund met the Hassa family through a voluntary campaign that involved lists of families in need of support being posted in workplaces. These lists were sent to families in Western Europe, who later sent parcels and other forms of support. Friends of Irena’s parents added the Hassa family on such a list, and Daisy and Raimund, who was a Swiss professional pilot, helped them. Families became friends).

(PB)

keywords Poland  Warsaw  Barbican  Old Town in Warsaw  All Saints’ Day  family  grave  cemetery  candles  flowers  portraits  pigeon  defensive walls  winter  sledge  snow  visit of friends  foreign aid  toast  dog 
source of funding Ministry of Culture and National Heritage